Beauty and the Beast
by DesiringMagic
Summary: Twelve/Clara. Random one-shot after a conversation on tumblr.


**Author's Note:**** After a conversation with capaldi-a on tumblr about Peter's singing, I wrote this for her. It was also sort of inspired by two other posts on tumblr about 12 and Clara having a Beauty and the Beast theme.**

Letting out a long yawn, she stretched her arms out wide. That was the best sleep she had had in a very long time. She felt almost lighter, weightless, and without a care in the world. Clara sometimes wished she could feel like that more often, because when you had her life, nothing was ever calm. Quite the opposite actually; because when you traveled with the Doctor, your life was guaranteed to have anything but calmness and normalcy. That was the best part of it.

Speaking of the Doctor, _I wonder what he's up to_. Standing up, she stretched her legs a little before heading out of her room, too content at the moment to bother with straightening her probably disheveled appearance. The Doctor had seen her in worse states; why should she worry about being seen in pajamas and slippers?

He wasn't in the library, or the kitchen. _The console room_, she thought with a smile. _He's probably tinkering away at his box like always_. He wasn't in sight when she entered the room, but that didn't throw her off since she could hear sounds coming from under the platform. She walked closer to the stairs, the noise of fizzing and clanking growing louder when suddenly a completely different, deeper sound came to her ears. Curiosity spiking, she descended the stairs, careful not to get caught.

Right at the center stood the Doctor, surrounded by wires of all sizes hanging from the platform above. He was standing on his toes on top of what looked like a tool box with his head and shoulders out of sight as he currently had them inside an open compartment above. His arms kept coming in and out of view, sleeves folded up at the elbow, and his navy blue coat and cardigan were folded neatly at the base of the stairs. But the most interesting thing wasn't what she saw, but what she heard.

"-_but now he's dear and so unsure. I wonder why I didn't see it there before_." _Oh my God._ A giggle escaped her lips and she slapped a hand over her mouth to keep the laugh from bursting through. She didn't want him to know she was there. Not yet at least. Thankfully he didn't hear her and continued with the song.

"_She glanced this way, I thought I saw and when we touched she didn't shudder at my paw. No it can't be. I'll just ignore. But then she's never looked at me that way before_."

Thinking fast, she decided to make her presence known. "_New and a bit alar-_"

She was cut off from singing the rest by the sight of The Doctor's body making a dramatic turn towards her. Unfortunately, he made the turn too quickly and slipped from the box, hitting his head against the compartment edge and falling onto the floor, getting tangled in some of the wires in the process. Her smirk disappeared as she ran to his side.

"Doctor!" Clara pushed passed the wires and helped him sit up. But apparently he wasn't in the mood to receive help. He pushed her hands away with a groan, from annoyance or pain, she didn't know.

"Let go, I'm fine." He said, pushing his goggles up to rub at the side of his face. She guessed that was where he had hit himself and she winced when she caught a glimpse of a small cut above his cheek.

"No you're not. Here, let me help." But her attempts were in vain as he pushed her away again.

"Help from you? Ha! Any more from you and I'll end up dead." He replied with an irritated tone.

"It's not my fault! I didn't know interrupting your little Disney song session would cause you to overreact and fall. Talk about '_a bit alarming_'." He gave her a cold, hard glare but abruptly looked away again. She realized that he was avoiding her gaze when she noted the faint blush creeping across his cheeks. Suddenly everything seemed hilarious and she couldn't help bursting out in laughter.

"What exactly is so funny?" He was angrier now, using his 'Oncoming Storm' voice to try and get the upper hand, but the blush's constant presence wasn't helping him much.

"It's just," She gasped between laughs. "This." She gesticulated to the air around them. "You." She poked him on the shoulder. Her short statements only furthered his confusion and his frown deepened. Knowing that he would start chastising her, she paused, wiping at a stray tear and taking shallow breaths to calm herself.

"I think I like you better when you're asleep, then you're not such a danger to my physical and mental health." Instead of being offended, she smiled, knowing that he was just trying to rile her up to get some attention away from himself.

"I'm sorry for scaring you… and making you fall and hit your silver head." She said innocently, adding in the last part in hopes that it would lighten him up, but he merely shook his head in disapproval. "But you were so cute singing Beauty and the Beast that I couldn't help but join in! I love Disney songs! You should sing them more often. It might help soften that strict personality of yours a bit."

"That's it, I'm leaving." He made to stand up but Clara grabbed his shirt and sat him back down beside her.

"No! C'mon, don't be such a beast." She teased, giggling a little at her joke and hugging his arm so that he couldn't escape. He shook his head again but this time there was an amused air to it and she was able to spot a restrained smile on his face.

"If I'm the Beast then who does that make you? Mrs. Potts?" She playfully hit his shoulder.

"No, even though she's a very kind and responsible teapot-lady. I'm Belle, of course."

"Is that so?" He raised an eyebrow at her confident tone while trying (and failing) to suppress a smirk.

"Mmhmm." She sat up straighter, puffing out her chest, straightening her shoulders, and giving him her best smile. He didn't say anything and continued to stare at her, his eyes glazing over with something she couldn't quite name. His watch on her didn't waver one bit and after a couple more seconds she began to feel self conscious, remembering that she must look so silly with her pink and yellow ducky pajamas and hair held in a messy ponytail. She slouched again and fidgeted uncomfortably, bringing a hand up to bite at her nails.

"What?" She finally asked.

He smiled. "Nothing. I was just thinking about how you're so much like Belle." The compliment (_Was it a compliment?_) caught her off guard and had her staring dumbfounded as he stood up, freeing himself of her considerably weakened hold on his arm. He fumbled with the wires hesitantly before coming to stand in front of her again. He reached out his hand. Clara stared at it and then at him.

Rolling his eyes, he took a hold of her and pulled her to her feet. "I need the box." She watched him reposition the tool box under the compartment and put on his goggles before resuming his work, once again disappearing inside the platform.

"How exactly am I like Belle?" The question came out of nowhere and startled her a little. She didn't know why she asked; she just knew that she needed to hear why he thought so. The fizzling sounds stopped and silence settled for a while as she waited for his response. The Doctor finally shrugged, not even bothering to move his head out of the compartment as he answered.

"I don't know. You're smart like she is. You both love books. You're both very brave and kind and, you know, beautiful." He mumbled the last part so softly that she barely heard what he had said before he quickly cleared his throat and spoke again, "And you're both very good at tolerating a beast, so…" Trailing off, he went back to what he was doing.

Clara stood still, trying to get her head around what he had said, when his head suddenly popped out.

"I was thinking, since you were asleep for so long, that you might be hungry. I can take you to a restaurant on any planet you want. After I'm done with this, of course."

She nodded. "Yeah… I'd like that. I'll go get ready." He grinned and delved back into his work. Beaming, she made for the stairs, that weightlessness from before coming back to her ten times stronger. His words echoed in her mind as she listened to the diminishing sound of his voice singing what distinctively sounded like _A Whole New World_.


End file.
